Ball joint spacer/aftermarket UCA

[Mr. Pickles]

Ok, I know they're needed to preserve the steering geometry and such when lifting the front suspension. Its pretty straight forward that the stock setup gets out of whack after too much tweaking. My question is, do they push the upper control arm out or in, causing the top of the tire to do the same in relation to the bottom? The ball joint spacers from AC look almost like they're made out of rubber. I'm trying to grasp what happens the geometry, basically. My T bars have sagged some since I first cranked them when they were new, and I want to crank them back up along with the Jeep spring install, but I'm trying to get it all in focus so I know at what point I need to stop and go looking for new components.

 

Also, this goes out to people with more of a fabrication background. Would it be possible for you to solve the issue of maxing out the lift of the T bars when the front end reaches the limit against the bump stops? Something in the way of a more arched shape or something for the control arm to allow more clearance?

 

Ok, breath. Enough questions for 1 post. Guys, don't kill me.

[statikuz]

Alrighty, all I know, and you probably know this too, is when you crank your T-bars to raise the front end, the tops of your tires start to slant in and in and in until it becomes theoretically unalignable. 88 will argue that. =) Anyway, the concept behind aftermarket UCAs is that they're longer, they push the top of the tire back out more, and allow it to be aligned to spec, without your tires looking like / \. =)

 

At least that's what I understand. Again, pretty basic, but that's all I can tell you. Ball joint spacers? Beats me. =)

[88pathoffroad]

Yep yep. What the BJ spacers do is allow you to crank the t-bars up some more before they hit the upper bumpstops, at the same time dropping the UCA attachment point 1/2" or 1", which makes the angle on the upper balljoint less severe. It is still alignable, yes.

 

The thing that limits IFS t-bar cranking lift is the CV axles. They will bind up and break if pushed past their specified travel limits. They weren't designed for such extreme travel angles. You'll be near their limits with cranked t-bars in the first place.

[Mr. Pickles]

Alrighty, all I know, and you probably know this too, is when you crank your T-bars to raise the front end, the tops of your tires start to slant in and in and in until it becomes theoretically unalignable. 88 will argue that. =) Anyway, the concept behind aftermarket UCAs is that they're longer, they push the top of the tire back out more, and allow it to be aligned to spec, without your tires looking like / \. =)

 

At least that's what I understand. Again, pretty basic, but that's all I can tell you. Ball joint spacers? Beats me. =)

Ok, that's what I thought. For a nice graphic, since my T bars have sagged, and they had a fresh alignment after cranking, the front tires VISUALLY appear to be more like \ / which I don't imagine is a good thing regardless. They're about 1 1/2 lower on the passenger side, and 2 lower on the driver's side, than when I initially cranked them. Probably not the brightest thing to do to crank them freshly installed and right out of the box, huh? At least I know the measurements of where they should be at good alignment, so hopefully I can skip having it done again. Plus, that will give me just about prefect height with the new springs since the rear is riding level and more on the air shocks for height than the springs at this piont.

[JeepRescueService14]

yea.. those 1 in bj spacers, theyre made of good steel. when you first install them they will make you toe WAY in .. like dangerously unsafe toe in ... like jump all over the road dangerous.. yea.. set your toe out a bit...

yea very alignable tho no prob. for a good tech.

[Mr. Pickles]

Yep yep. What the BJ spacers do is allow you to crank the t-bars up some more before they hit the upper bumpstops, at the same time dropping the UCA attachment point 1/2" or 1", which makes the angle on the upper balljoint less severe. It is still alignable, yes.

 

The thing that limits IFS t-bar cranking lift is the CV axles. They will bind up and break if pushed past their specified travel limits. They weren't designed for such extreme travel angles. You'll be near their limits with cranked t-bars in the first place.

I'm just trying to reach a concise point of how far is too far. With my bars cranked, I'm coming at 35" ground to fender flare. Haven't measured without the flare though. It was at 33" before the new bars. Mind you, this was on old sagging bars with 130K miles. So I'm thinking a 2" jump with the new bars is not unreasonable. As it sits now, with low pressure in my air shocks and the initial sag of the 3 month old bars, its about 33" all around to ground from the fender flare. The Jeep GC springs (minus a coil or so) should jump 2" or so with my 4 door, spare tire carrier, etc. I'm trying to stay close to level and relatively safe on the wear factor, and I'm thinking that between getting the front back up to 35" and replacing the sagging stock rear springs with the Jeeps, I should be in decent shape.

[jdub]

Hmmm, sounds like my t-bars need to be replaced with 174k, I do need an alignment anyways.

[88pathoffroad]

I think too far would be installing 1" spacers, then cranking the t-bars all the way up. *nodnod* I'll report back after messing around more with mine.